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Travieso Defends Title, Wins Craig Sakin Memorial At Aspen Valley Polo Club;
Melissa Ganzi Named MVP |
By Arianna Delin, Sharon Robb for Aspen Valley Polo ClubTravieso is making a name for itself at Aspen Valley Polo Club. Following the winning tradition it started at Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington, Fla., Travieso is already the winningest team at this summer’s polo season in Aspen.
The foursome of father-and-son Teo and Tony Calle, Lucas Lalor and Carlitos Gracida defeated La Karina, 10-8, to defend its title in the Craig Sakin Memorial and win back-to-back tournaments. Last week Travieso won the ChukkerTV Challenge Cup. Melissa Ganzi of La Karina, playing well above her handicap, was named Most Valuable Player.
Ganzi scored on a long angle shot in the third chukker to give her team a 5-4 lead and again in the fifth chukker. Despite getting hit in the back with a ball, Ganzi scored her second goal for an 8-7 lead. Sorpresa, a Chestnut mare owned and ridden by Tony Calle in the fourth chukker, was named Best Playing Pony. Calle, 21, a junior at Lynn University, played one of his best games of his young career, defending Argentine 9-goaler Sebastian Merlos. He scored three goals and turned back two La Karina goals.
“It’s not easy marking Sebe,” Calle said. “You always try the best you can. It’s hard to outsmart a guy like him. I knew it was going to be tough. “I knew I was well-mounted. I just had to anticipate, be patient and not make any mistakes and wait for everyone to do their job.” La Karina (Melissa Ganzi, Brian Boyd, Sebastian Merlos, Marc Ganzi) kept it close until the sixth chukker. Gracida converted a penalty-two to open the chukker for a 9-8 lead. Lalor scored an insurance goal on a breakaway with 33 seconds left to finish with a game-high five goals.
“I had my best horse in the sixth chukker,” Calle said. “After we tied it up and scored another goal to take the lead, we knew we needed to remain cool, not make any stupid mistakes and run the clock down. “We have a good organized team with everybody doing their job and marking the man. We are trying to keep as professional as we can. We know the summer is more relaxing but we still take it very seriously. We want to keep up the reputation we had in Florida. Everybody wants to try to beat a Travieso team. We don’t take that personally, it’s fun polo. That’s the whole point, having fun.”
Making it even more fun was playing with his father. “It’s always fun playing on the same team with him, we have a blast together,” Calle said. “He had a great game. He was on point and did some good marking.” The third annual tournament is named in honor of Craig Sakin, who passed away on Feb. 11, 2014 at age 52. Sakin, former president of the Homeowners’ Association of Sopris Mountain Ranch, was instrumental in helping Marc and Melissa Ganzi secure their first polo field. The trophy has remained in the Sakin home.
His widow Sally presented the tournament awards and trophy along with special caps for players and some of her husband’s favorite cowboy hats to Melissa and Marc Ganzi, who introduced Sakin to polo. “He came to love polo,” Sakin said.
In the Craig Sakin Memorial subsidiary game, Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Jimmy Seward, Justo Saavedra, Stewart Armstrong) defeated Casablanca, 8-6, (Lauren Sherry, Grant Ganzi, Julio Novillo Astrada, Juancito Bollini). Hildebrand broke a 6-6 tie with 2:36 left in he game. Armstrong added an insurance goal in the final minute. Saavedra led scoring with four goals and was named MVP.
In between games, fans enjoyed watching a another spirited Kids Foot Mallet Exhibition between Polo School Purple (Emmett Tamplin, Lucy Ramirez, Santos Merlos) and Polo School Blue (Lorenzo Ramirez, Abel Tamplin, Solon Tamplin, Nikko Ramirez). The game ended in a 4-4 tie. The Craig Sakin Memorial was the third of nine summer tournaments at Aspen Valley.
Travieso (Brian Boyd, Sebastian Merlos, Teo Calle, Alex Gooding) won the ChukkerTV Challenge Cup with a 13-9 win over Tonkawa. Flexjet (Melissa Ganzi/Secundo Merlos, Sebastian Merlos, Carlitos Gracida) captured the season-opening Independence Cup with a 6-4 in over La Karina in the club’s arena because of bad weather. Chukker TV, leaders in polo broadcasting, is live streaming the entire summer schedule including the prestigious Louis Vuitton Cup and Rocky Mountain Cup.
ASPEN VALLEY 2016 SUMMER SCHEDULE July 21-24, Basalt Handicap July 27-31, Emma Challenge Aug. 3-7, Louis Vuitton Cup Aug. 10, ChukkerTV Arena Challenge Aug. 12-14, Mount Sopris Cup Aug. 10-21, Rocky Mountain Open |
